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Edith's Streets

This blog records notes about London (and Greater London) streets - what the buildings are, what the background is. These pages have been compiled over many years and from many sources - its not intended to copy from other people's work.Each post represents a square on the Ordnance Survey grid -and the vast majority of information is culled from map based source material - Ordnance Survey, A/Z, etc.

On some inner city squares only a quarter of each square is done because of the volume of material involved

Please add your comments and corrections - I am sure there are lots of mistakes - and my idea is to build up a correct record interactively

Red- it is (hopefully) there nowBlue - its interesting but its goneNo colour, same as the text - don't know. needs to be verified

Burntwood Lane Playing Fields. Land to Broderick Road laid out by 1897 as a cricket field.
Birchlands Avenue Falcon – the stream ran down here and met at tributary south of Nightingale Road. Falcon brook Thus was a tributary of the Thames now which is covered over. It was also called Hideborne that is 'stream running through the hide of land'.
Nightingale Lane 149 Church of Latter Day Saints. 1950s design, substantial and austere

Nottingham Road 5 listed bollards

Routh Road 3 home of David Lloyd George 1865-1945. He lived here 1904 – 1908 while he was President of the Board of Trade. Plaque installed 1992.

Rushholme Road Falcon - From the meeting point of the tributaries the stream ran down what is now Rusholme Road

St.James Drive
This was once called Ouseley Road St.James Westminster Industrial school. 5 acres of an enclosure of 20 acres of the common were enclosed in 1846 for the parish of St.James, Westminster. The school was built in 1852 and housed young people sent there by magistrates. In 1910 it was bought by Wandsworth and Clapham Guardians to be used as a workhouse infirmary. St.James Hospital. The old school buildings were transferred to the London County Council from Wandsworth Board of Guardians. They were modernised from 1953 with a new Outpatients' Department, by Devereux & Davies and this continued through the 1950s and 1960s. Demolished 1988, the site is now housing.

Trinity Road St.Mary Magdalen Church. The first church here in 1870 was a ‘tin tabernacle’ mission church. A second temporary structure in brick was opened in 1873. The current church was built in 1888. Trinity Road chapel – evangelical Baptists 172 home of author Thomas Hardy with a blue plaque 226 Surrey Tavern. Mid Victorian and now an Italian restaurant. Built of the bricks used in the Craig Telescope tower. These bricks are of a different colour and that they were once part of the 64-foot tower which held the tube of the telescope.

Wandsworth Common
It was in ten sections and included lots of encroachments. It belonged to the Spencer family. Mrs. Cooper wife of Jack Cooper the fighting gipsy told fortunes live in a tent in the middle. There were 53 enclosures between 1794-1866 and it was crossed by various railways. Henry Peak the MP for Wandsworth helped set up a committee in 1870 which resulted in the Wandsworth Common Act 187l in which it was vested in Conservators while Spencer got a perpetual annuity from the rates. In 1887 it was transferred to the Metropolitan Board of Works who laid out paths created lakes from old gravel pits. 1898 it became the responsibility of the London County Council extended it by 20 acres who in 1912. In 1971 responsibility for the common transferred to Wandsworth Council. The Scope. Nature conservation area on the site of the telescope. 50 types of tree including balsam poplar. Lots of planted trees. reed beds, willow, crack willow, birch and giant hogweed, purple moor grass, strawberry clover, comfrey, birch and robins. 20 sorts of grass. Telescope - there is a slight depression in the ground where the tower once stood. The path from Lyford Road cuts right across it. Rev John Craig commissioned a big telescope 1852, 64' high and 85' foot. It was built by William Gravatt, one if Marc Brunel’s assistants. The telescope tube was built by Rennie and ran on a circular azimuth track way. Largest ever built then. Now wild. Wandsworth Common Station. Built between Balham and Clapham Junction on Southern Rail. The line was opened by the West End and Crystal Palace Railway as a tourist line to the palace in 1856. Line to Victoria Pimlico Station 5.58. The station wad rebuilt in 1905 following quadrupling of the line.

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Busy urban area with an late 19th and early 20th shopping centre along the A24 with many facilities, churches, temples, mosques, pubs and places of entertainment - an amazing number of ex cinemas.. This replaces big houses and estates which once fronted the main road and there were also once mills here. The station provides an interchange between London Underground's Northern Line and main line services to Brighton and elsewhere. The station was designed by Holden. This is far from being a fashionable area but is is lively and engaged.

Balham
The word ‘Balham’ may derive from a Saxon personal name. Balham was never a real village but a small settlement on Roman Stane Street between Clapham and Tooting, overtaken by growth of London in the 19th. There were three manors and 'Balaam's Farm'. In the 18th there were half dozen cottages on the main road – and a road going to the George Inn, and a tile kiln.

Balham HillBalham Hill Estate. Flats on the site of the Balham Hippodrome, Also known as Royal Duchess Theatre, Duchess Palace Theatre, Duchess Theatre. The Royal Duchess Theatre opened in 1899. It had a Beaux-Arts style exterior topped by a huge copper dome under a cupola with a Classical winged figure. It had 1,268 seats and was designed by W.G.R. Sprague. In 1903, it was named Duchess Palace Theatre and films were screened from 1908. In 1909, it was re-named Balham Hippodrome Theatre, and was a full time cinema until 1915 but then reverted back to variety. It was bombed in the Second World War and it was closed. It was demolished in the 1960's.

Balham High RoadFalcon. A branch of the stream here was once known as the Hydeburn with a reference in 693. It became a sewer and covered in 1866. 33 Radha Krishna Temple. Founded by Guru Shyamadevi after fund raising in Leicester for a London base to serve the Gujarati community and opened in 1977.The Temple is run by three women, but the Guru herself died in 1999.38 Congress Hall Salvation Army. Operates in a modern building as both a church and a social centre39 The Devonshire was the Duke of Devonshire, previously.47a Balham Mosque 58 shop on the site of the Cosy Electric Theatre, which operated in 1912. The parade of shops was bombed in World War II and a new parade of shops and flats was built in the early 1960's.75 site of Gaumont Cinema which had opened as the The Swimming Baths Concert Hall in 1890, and had a swimming pool under the wooden concert hall floor. It only had a narrow entrance on the High Road and the auditorium was behind. In 1907, it became the Balham Empire Theatre showing films. In 1909 it was re-named Theatre De Luxe and in 1915 became the Olympia Cinema and the Pavilion Cinema in 1922. In 1928 it was over by Denman/Gaumont Theatres and re-named Gaumont in 1949. It closed in 1960 and became a Top Rank Bingo Club, but was later demolished and used as car sales space.90-92 The Clarence. Clarence appears to be a cart96-100 Jackdaw and Rook 110-126 Holdron Bros. Large drapers shop, now closed.157 Blithe spirit 172 Marks and Spencer, on the site of the Ritz Cinema which opened as The Cinematograph Theatre in 1911. It was re-named Picture House in 1916 and a Christie 2Manual/6Rank organ was installed, in 1927 when the building was remodelled by Clifford A. Aish. In 1953, a new facade was built and it re-opened as the Ritz Cinema. It closed by ABC in 1968 and was converted into a bingo club and also used for Asian films. The building was demolished in 1985.177 Steel House. This was previously Station House built on the site of the Palladium Cinema which had been demolished in the 1950's. The cinema had opened in 1914 and then remodelled by Cecil Masey plus a big stage for theatre. It had been was bombed in 1940 when 68 people were killed and it never re-opened.194 The Moon under Water. Wetherspoon pubArt Metal Works Assembly Rooms Balham House was on the west side of Balham High Road south of Ramsden Road. It was owned, but let out, by the Duchess of Bedford and built in 1787. It was rebuilt in 1880 before being demolished for the Duchess Theatre in 1898.Gunpowder works in the grounds of Balham House. Seven gunpowder production houses in fields to the rear. Derelict in the early 18th. Probably owned by Walton, operator of the mills at Waltham Abbey.Balham Station. This is made up two interconnected adjacent stations one London Underground and one national railBalham Underground Station is on the Northern Line between Clapham South and Tooting Bec. Built by City and South London Railway when they extended from Moorgate following the line being rebuilt and joined to Camden Town, it went out as far as South Wimbledon. It was on the extension to Morden, which became the Northern Line House style as for all those on the line. Designed by S A. Heaps, who was responsible for the inside and Charles Holden, who designed the stone- exteriors with detail like the London Transport signs for capitals. There is a memorial plaque in the entrance hall to 65 civilians killed in 1940 when the station was used as a deep shelter. A bomb fell into the road above and a bus fell in the hole.Balham Rail station is on the Brighton Main Line which is on an embankment. Beyond the station, the line divides into the Brighton Line, going to Croydon and another line going to Crystal Palace. The station was opened in 1863 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway called Balham and Upper Tooting.Church Schools. Behind the church.St Mary. The church was originally a proprietary chapel built in 1805 and which became parochial in 1855. It is plain church built by F. Hurlbatt in 1807 but a new front was added in 1903 by William Newton Dunn, with a projecting baptistery and one of two planned towers. Inside there are mosaic panels done in the 1890ss.

Balham Grove5-15 19th villas. Listed59 Balham Grove Hall. Church hall now used as a nursery.20 Post Office 80 Flats called Paper Bag FactoryPublic toilets with ornate ironwork around the entrance.

Balham New Road18 Balham Pentecostal Church.1 building once used by the Salvation Army, and previously was Balham School. Now in other use

Bedford Hill33 William Hill shop on site of the Bedford Cinema. This was in a shop premises, with an auditorium at the rear. It ran from 1911 to 1920. It was then used by St. Phillip's Church Mission.Coal Brook Mansions Sainsbury’s Car park 77 The Bedford

Boundaries Road14 old hall, now a nurseryThe Balham Tup

Cavendish RoadFalcon - It is believed that the waters can be heard near where Weir Road meets Cavendish Road. 260-262 Balham Glass and Joinery 270 Prince of Wales. Irish pubSt Andrews United Reform Church, once called Zennor Hall

Cloudsdale RoadThe line of the York Ditch down to the Balham High Road,
Chestnut GroveChestnut Grove School. This was Hydeburn School. A comprehensive school for 900 children. Built by I.L.E.A. in the 1970s.21 Balham Tup which was previously The Regent. Closed.

Endlesham Road48 Balham Community Church - the Kalos Centre. In the late 19th The Brethren Movement was set up. A Balham assembly of Brethren met in Balham Grove and then in 1934 to this hall and developed an associated youth organisation. In 2003 it became Balham Community Church72 Balham Nursery School and Children’s Centre.

Hearnville RoadBoard School of 1905, with additions of 1973-7 by P. Reynolds and B. Wilson of the G.L.C. Architect's Department Education Branch.

Hildreth StreetStreet market 5 shop which was once a cinema operating from March 1909.

Larch Close
Site of gravel pit

Nightingale Lane99 Queen Elizabeth House. Sheltered flats. The site had previously been the Queen Elizabeth Maternity Hospital, part of the South London Hospital for Women. It had originally been Helensburgh House and the home from 1857 of the evangelist Charles Haddon Spurgeon101 Oak Lodge Home for Deaf and Dumb Girls set up in 1905. Now Oak Lodge School for the Deaf. Established by the London County Council in 1905 as a boarding school for deaf girls of 11-16. The house had belonged to the curator of Kew Gardens and because of the oaks in the garden the school was called Oak Lodge. The school moved away during the Second World War and after that it became a day school and included boys who came from a school in Anerley demolished in 1968 and the new Oak Lodge - was built on the site of the Jewish School.School for Jewish deaf children opened 1899. There was a high wall between them and Oak Lodge next door. Closed and demolished 1965.

Old Devonshire Grove22 Tudor GothicA Dispensary was opened here under the will of Benjamin Weir

Oldridge RoadFalcon. The road follows the valley of the stream and is criss-crossed by terraced streets that rise and fall.39 Grove pubAlderbrook Primary School Aura House. Used by local housing bodies.

Ramsden Road21 Balham Baptist Church. The church and its Sunday School dates from 1873. Ramsden Hall was added in 1902 and the Memorial Building in 1932. The church itself was rebuilt following a fire in the 1950s.7 Balham Bowls Club. This is a pub and no longer a bowls club. However the green is still at the back, used as a beer garden and the interior is full of memorabilia of the club.3 Be At One. PubBalham Library. Was a branch of Streatham. The current building was an extension to a Victorian library.

Rowfant RoadFalcon. the road follows the line of the stream.

Shipka RoadHousing on the site of the auditorium of the Bedford Cinema.

Friday, 23 July 2010

Atkins Road
Originally part of Cubit development - Clapham Park estate planned from 1825 as an area of large villasLa Retraite Convent. Incorporating two of Cubitt's Clapham Park villas of c.1860; additions by L. Stokes, 1908. La Retraite School founded 1880, by "Les Dames De La Retraite" – French sisters from an order founded by Catherine De Francheville in Vannes in 1674. The sisters first bought Oakfield House, owned by the family of Victorian portrait painter, De Lazlo. In 1897, they bought The Oaks since demolished for a chapel and refectory. In 1904, Springfield House was bought from the family of Dan Leno, who had died there, and this is now the Sixth Form Centre. They also bought Burlington House. In 1913, another block and a gym were added. In the 1970s, the grammar school became comprehensive school, and in the 1990s, it became a Grant-Maintained school. In 1999 it linked with other local schools as the South London Sixth - SL6.St Bernadette Roman Catholic Primary School. Founded in 1958 by the La Retraite Sisters. Sisters from the Order acted as Headteachers until 1985. It had existed as a prep school within the La Retraite building since the 1880s. Under the Butler Education Act of 1944 no primary prep school could be part of a senior school. The Sisters taught infant children in the coach houses behind St. Bede's Church. Work began on a new building in 1956 and the opening marked the centenary of the first apparition to Saint Bernadette.

Bellthorne CrescentEamon Fortell Centre mental health care unit.

Cavendish AvenueAt Cavendish Road, the brook heads north, with two tributaries joining from the park south and south east. Cavendish Road was once called Dragmire Lane.

Emmanuel Avenue
The area was acquired by Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1587 when it was a field called Hyde. In the 1890s they developed it as the Hyde Farm EstateFalcon The stream then runs along the top of Tooting Bec Common. Three large elm trees used to mark the course here alongside Emmanuel RoadHyde Farm. The farm was leased out to farmers until the late 19th century, when Hyde field was turned over to sport and recreation, and the farm, to pig farming.
70-72 shops built along with the school, church and centre as the focus to the Hyde Farm Estate.
Hyde Farm Mews
Housing on the site of Hyde Farm School playing field.

Hydethorne Road
Emmanuel College began to develop the area with this road in the 1890s.
Dashwood Foundation. Properties in the area were built by Ernest Dashwood from 189 and some put aside for occupation by war wounded from the Boer War and the First World War, The Dashwood Foundation was set up in 1946 and rent free accommodation was set aside for men and women from the Services who were injured during World War II, commemorated with a number of plaques.

Midmoor Road77 Hyde Farm Estate Works Department building with a plaque dated 1899-1904

Molly Huggins Close
Built on the site of the Weir Maternity Hospital by the Metropolitan Housing TrustWeir Maternity Hospital opened 1931 in Edwardian buildings closed and demolished 1877. The hospital had been founded under the Will of Benjamin Weir, and opened in 1911, Weir’s home was 'The Hawthorns', used with other land for the hospital. During the First World War it became a military hospital reverting to a general hospital in 1920. In 1931 Wandsworth Borough Council built the Wandsworth War Memorial Maternity Home on a next door site. In 1948 the NHS combine the two hospitals as a maternity unit. The Wandsworth Hospital Group office was also in the building. It closed in 1977, when government policy ended maternity units outside district hospitals.Hospital boundary railings on the front of the siteWandsworth War Memorial unit. Built 1931 by architect R.J.Thompson

Poynders Gardens
1938, a little more daring, with curved corners and horizontal bands. Post- war buildings are more generously laid out

Poynders Road
Part of the Clapham Park estate planned by Cubitt from 1825 as an area of large villas. Now part of the South Circular the southern part of the estate is now cut off from the northern.42-65 a quadrant of shops with flats above, c. 1955Flats on the site of the Library which was closed in 2000Agnes Riley Gardens. The site of one of Cubitt’s villas and named after the benefactor.

Radbourne RoadRadbourne Centre used as a youth club and community base. This was built as Hyde Farm Club in 1912 for the use of war veterans.Hyde Farm School. Smaller than the others in the area. Used as a special needs school but now private housing. It was a London School Board School of 1904 by T.J.Bailey

Rosethorn Close
On the site of St.Anne’s Home

Scholars Road
Named after the scholars at Emmanuel College Cambridge which bought the area in 1587 when it was a field called Hyde.Hyde Field was part of Hyde Farm until the 19th when it became Hyde Farm Athletic Grounds for cricket, golf, athletics, cycle racing and, baseball. There was a grandstand, refreshment bar and teahouse.

Scrutton Close
Low housing, late 1950s

Telford AvenueSt Thomas Church. 1898

Telferscot Road31-33 plaque about occupation by ex-service personnel.Telferscot School. London School Board building of 1904 by T.J.Bailey. Six storeys with a bell tower and cupola. Primary school.

Weir Road
Was Grove Road and renamed for Benjamin Weir who in 1902 left his house, the Hawthorns, for a hospital to be built. A ward in St. George’s Hospital is named after him.3 Memon Centre. A centre providing facilities for the Muslim organisation.St Stephen. Opened in 1867, and built to designs of James Knowles. It was bombed but reopened in 1954. It has since been demolished and replaced by a new multi-purpose church in 1974Grange Mills. Trading Estate on the south side of the road, included a laundry, Chapman Stationery.
Pickfords Depot
Clapham Park Bottling Plant1 Charlwood Mansions, 1861
Phoenix Motor Co. - house with factory extension to the sideGeneral Catering SuppliesBig Yellow10-12 Standwood House
Cashco

Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Balham High Road
Balham High Road follows the Roman road, Stane Street, coming from Chichester. 176 was South Eastern Gas showroom 207 Mansbridge House stuccoed house 211 Polish White Eagle Club. Victorian Hall Polish community centre. Has a selection of Slavic lagers and vodka and Polish dancing. Plus a Polish restaurant. The club us used by many of Balham's Polish immigrants who settled here after the Second World War 232 Polish Roman Catholic Church, Kosciól Chrystusa –Christ the King in what was Balham Congregational Church. Founded 1879 closed 1972, 268 United Services Club. This was private Balham Grammar School 312 Wimbledon Sewing Machine Company and the London Sewing Machine Museum 314 French's Motor Jobmasters became French's Garage Motor Works Ltd., running lorries and charabancs Ducane Court. A large colony of flats 1935-6, grouped round two open quadrangles. There are 647 flats and it is said to be the largest set of flats under one roof. ` Territorial Army building & Drill Hall. Air Training Corps Upper Tooting Methodist Church Health Centre built on the site of Temperence Billiard HallKosmon ChurchBedford Hill
Dukes of Bedford owned a house here in the 18th.
A curving road between Balham and Streatham which was originally private giving access to Bedford Hill house. Richardson Borradaile laid it out what was the carriageway to Bedford Hill House as a thoroughfare for future housing. In 1891, it was named ‘Bedford Hill’.
Bedford Hill Estate developed by A.Heaver new shops and by the 1970s there were six roads of red brick houses 146 Annaley House Care Home in Old Church. This was St.John the Divine, built 1883 but now part of St.Mary’s. 120 Balham Health Centre
Ryde Vale

Dr. Johnson Avenue
Named for Dr.Johnson who is said to have walk down it when he was staying with the Thrale family. It generally follows the line of the Falcon stream going north westwards. Here the stream was known as the York Ditch and formed the dividing line between Tooting Graveney Common and Tooting Bec Common In the 19th this in the grounds of Bedford Hill House. Avenue of oak trees planted in the late 16th to commemorate a visit by Elizabeth I. Keeper's Lodge

Elmbourne Road The line of the Falcon follows Elmbourne Road and then Streathbourne Road.
Elmfield Road Balham Leisure Centre in site of Baths. Opened 1915 when it had two clubrooms, one year round bath, and a chlorination plant. Ravenstone Primary School

Hillbury Road
In the 19th this was in the grounds of Bedford Hill House. The name here alludes to an artificial mound created as part of the landscaping.

Marius Road Tram depot built by the London Tramways for horse trams in the 1880s. London County Council took it over in 1889 when it housed 35 trams. It was converted for use by electric trams but then used as a depot as horse trams were broken up and burnt out in a local field. Closed 1924. Open front building, with brick sidewalls and corrugated roof. Transverser and forecourt. 1915 trailer. Then sold and became a garage. In the 1950s it was used by British Films but has since been redeveloped.

Ritherdon Road Bedford Hill House. This stood south of this road. It had been built by Richardson Borradaile, a speculative builder constructed on land once part of Covey's Farm. It was owned by William Cubitt, Lord Mayor of London in 1861. 13 Folk House. Woodcraft Folk Head Office 16-18 Blue Pumpkin pub 67 Metamorphic Association

Streathbourne Road The road follows the line of the Falcon stream but in 1865 the Metropolitan Board of Works spent £30,000 to cover over and redirect it. The valley was known as the ‘holloways’. A farm here belonged to Sir Peter Daniel, MP for Southwark in 1685.
Brickmaking - clay was dug along the banks of the Falcon in the 17th for making bricks and tiles.

Tooting Bec Common
The Common was owned in the middle ages by the Abbey of Bec in France. There had been riots about the right to cut furze, etc. There were many incursions and then the Duke of Bedford put it up for sale. Thompson, a City Broker, bought and put a fence round it. Then the Metropolitan Board of Works bought it at more than Thompson had paid, one of the first taken over by them. There is woodland either side of Bedford Hill and an avenue of trees marks the former boundary line between the two commons, now to all intents and purposes one common. Sanctuary, north east of the lake and managed as a wildlife area. It includes a prehistoric fossil tree stump. Ponds Cubitt had the area round the brook landscaped and creating an ornamental lake. So the ponds aren't river-related but old gravel pits The Old Yachting Pond. Nearby are sculptures created from storm-blown trees in 1987
Tea House. 1906,

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Thames Tributary FalconThe springs which feed the Falcon flow west and north west

Post to the west Upper TootingPost to the north Hyde FarmPost to the east Leigham CourtAbbotswood Road
Central area of the Woodfield Estate, built by WatesStreatham and Clapham High School. Originally this was Brixton Hill High School, and moved to a building currently in use by the Junior Department in Wavertree Road. Renamed Streatham Hill High School. In 1938 it merged with Clapham High School, and in 1944 the school was bombed. In 1994 the school took on the present site which had been in use by other schools. The school was renamed as Streatham and Clapham High SchoolBattersea Grammar School. This was established in 1875 as a development from Sir Walter St John's School. The original school building was on St John's Hill, Battersea but in 1935 the LCC offered them a site here in a new building designed by J. E. K. Harrison, FRIBA, and a former pupil. In 1977 it became comprehensive and moved to a new site as Furzedown Secondary School and the Abbotswood Road site closed although the playing-fields continued to be used

Bedford Hill225 The Priory. Gothic House built 1810-20on the edge of Tooting Bec Common. The death of Charles Bravo there was a Victorian scandal. Turned into flats 1982 and housing built in the grounds. Listed Grade II.

Drewstead Road
Named for members of the Drew family, local developersFalcon. The source of the Falconbrook are in the foundations of the parade of shops at the top of the road and Streatham High Road.Streatham Hill Railway Depot. West of the station between here and Sternhold Avenue. The main line between Clapham Junction and Crystal Palace runs through it. On the south side is a train shed, sidings, training school, staff accommodation and railway apparatus. On the north side are sidings and staff accommodation.81 Magdalen Lodge is the last remaining part of the Magdalene Hospital which had begun as Magdalen House in 1758 in Whitechapel as a charitable organization for the rehabilitation of prostitutes. The women had to be less than 30 years old and Preference was given to the youngest applicants. Training was given in needlework and laundry work. In 1772 it moved to Blackfriars Road. The site was sold in 1869 to the Peabody Trust and the Hospital moved here. In 1934 it changed to an Approved School for female offenders. During the Second World War the building was used as a refugee centre and then later as an LCC rest centre. In 1944 it became the Magdalen Hospital Classifying School for Girls. This closed in 1966 and the site was bought by Lambeth Council and the Magdalen Hospital Trust was dissolved in 1973.Magdalene Estate. On the site of the Magdalen Hospital.

Garrads Road
Housing on the site of Saxoncroft, also called The Grove
Carn BraeWoodfielde. Was in the corner with Bedford Hill. Now part of the school site
Line of oaks parallel to the road are the successors to an avenue first recorded in the 1600s.

The Spinney
Wates Housing from the 1930s

Tooting Common
There are two commons - Tooting Bec, and Tooting Graveney. They are the remains common land, which once stretched as far as Mitcham. It became a Metropolitan Open Space in 1873 and taken over by the Metropolitan Board of Works, bought for £17,771. There are many mature oaks and beeches,

Tooting Bec Common
Tooting Bec Common — the northern and eastern part of the commons — was within Streatham, thus in the past was sometimes called Streatham Common. In the 19th the common was divided by railways .It is nearly 152 acres and one of the earliest commons to be preserved by the Metropolitan Board of Works. There are formal avenues of trees — one is a line of oaks to commemorate a visit by Elizabeth I in 1600. Horse chestnuts planted in the 19th century line the roads but there had been loss to Dutch Elm disease.Falcon. The stream crossed Tooting Bec Common in a westwards direction.
Sculptures made from old tree trunks - including a telephone.

Woodbourne AvenueWoodbourne – name of the local stream which fed the Falcon from this area. There are dips in the land along the avenue66 Cottage-style front garden with roses, irises plus proteas from South Africa.

Amesbury AvenueLeigham Court estate, largely maisonettes. Built in the 1880s by the Artisans, Labourers and General Dwellings Co. and now a conservation area.262 John Company

Barcombe AvenueLeigham Court estate, largely maisonettes. 1880s Artisans, Labourers, and General Dwellings Co. now conservation area. St.Margaret. Built 1889-07 by Rowland Plumbe & Harvey and now listed. It is red brook with two turrets. Inside is a carved reredos by W. D. Caroe, 1908, showing the early history of the church in Britain. The parish was formed in 1901.

Bellassis AvenueHousing by London Coastal Counties

Conifer GardensWoodbourne. A tributary to the Falcon Brook has a source near Conifer Gardens and was called the Woodbourne. It may also have been called the Streatbourne.

De Montfort Road10 home of Commander Harrold. Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen 1921-1938

Drewstead Road
Named for the Drew family of developers, and opened up as a route to Balham.

Downton AvenueLeigham Court estate Artisans, Labourers and General Dwellings Co. Falcon. A main branch of the river is on Streatham Hill somewhere near Downton Avenue

Killieser Avenue
Laid out in 1881, named for part of the Scottish estate of landowners, Martin and Marianne Stewart. 35a Telford Tennis Club. In the year of the very first Wimbledon Championship architect E.J Tarver and contractors Sutton and Dudley develop a housing complex as the Telford Park Estate. The first house was completed in 1878 and in 1880 the tennis courts themselves were laid down and in 1884 the Telford Park Lawn Tennis Club was founded, thus it is the second oldest club in London, preceded only by Wimbledon itself. Architect E.J Tarver, was the club’s first treasurer. A club cottage was built with a clubroom and separate dressing rooms. One of the earliest members was E.G Meers, Slazenger’s racket designer. Later three hard courts were built - the first in Britain. In 1914 torrential rain flooded the whole of Streatham Hill. In 1986 a brick conduit could still be seen alongside the ground which is thought to be connected to the Falcon Brook. 38 romantic garden with unusual perennial plants, Classical rose arch, obelisk, Gothic arbour and water features.

Leigham Court Road
This preserves the name of the old manor of ‘Leyham’ 1165, which probably means "the fallow or unploughed enclosure'. Beriah Drew laid out Leigham Court Road in 1839. But the road was not developed further until after the arrival of the railway in 1856. After that ninety-five houses were built along the road of which 27 have survived. George Drew, the local landowner lived at Leigham Court and sold the remainder of the estate of 66 acres. It was developed by the Artisans', Labourers' and General Dwellings Company. The company provided social housing.Leigham Court stood opposite Mount Nod Road. It was built by Papworth for the banker, and owner of Boodles club. John George Fuller in the early 1830s
Leigham Hall. Beriah Drew lived there16 the Woodlawns Centre was built as Barham House in 1868. As a home for the Drew family and was lived in by Trollope the son of the builder. In 1943 it was taken over by the Streatham Darby and Joan Club and has remained theirs ever since. 18 Leigham Court Hotel22 Leigham Lodge was the first house built in here in 1843 and occupied by Beriah Drew until 1860. It was later the home of Richard Drew the architect of St Peters Church. It is now flats.49 Streatham Constitutional ClubManor Court. Four storey development arranged around a large central garden which was a Bell scheme designed by Toms and Partners. In 1935.55 Beechwood School. This was originally 17 Court Green built 1862. It later became the Anchorage Mission, later the Female Mission to the Fallen and from 1991 Lambeth Housing Department. In 1996 it became Beechwood School, private primary school.Dorchester Court housing from 1935 designed by H.W. Binns for the Great Britain Property and Investment Co. Ltd in red brick. Green glazed pantile roof. Dorchester Parade 1936 by H.Binns for Great Britain Property and Investment Co. Ltd. Mock Tudor half timbering on the first floor. 2-4 South London Press. 1930s brick building with the vertical centrepiece of a brick tower enclosing a full height staircase. Endsleigh Mansions 1930's purpose built flats. Dunraven Upper School on the site of Phillipa Fawcett College. Sports hall built of shipping containers. Some old houses and some new buildings.Phillip Fawcett Training College. This had been Clapham Training College, founded in 1900 which had moved in 1938 and became the Clapham and Streatham Hill Training College, transferring to the London County Council in 1949 to become the Phillipa Fawcett Teacher Training College. Phillipa was the daughter of Millicent Fawcett and also an early education advisor. An early brutalist building for the London County Council built 1960-6 by John Bancroft of the G.L.C. /I.L.E.A. Architects Department. The assembly hall has an octagonal domed roof over diagonal concrete beams. Dunraven Lower School – on the other side of the road

Mount Earl GardensAdare Centre. Adult Education College

Mount Ephraim RoadTile Kiln Farm, later Mount Ephraim farm covered the area to the west

Mount Nod RoadMount Nod Farm. Beriah Drew purchased Mount Nod Farm in 1836 from the executors of Lord Thurlow, Lord of the Manor. He, his brother George and his married daughter’s families were responsible for much of the local development. He and his family lived there until he built Leigham court

Streatham Hill
The name is shown as this on the Ordnance Survey map of 1876. The area developed after the opening of the railway station in 1856.
Falcon the stream flowed west to Woodbourne Avenue.Streatham Hill Station, 1856. Between West Norwood and Balham on Southern Rail. Opened as part of West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway LBSCR – for the opening of Crystal Palace at Norwood. From Crystal Palace Low Level. Originally called Streatham. Single storey original station buildings.47 1930's building originally occupied by the Regent Garage. A long linear plot behind used for a workshop. 47 Chelsea Building Society. The building was extended in 1962 and originally was a post office 110 Riva Bingo. This was the Streatham Hill Theatre, also at one time the Mayfair Bingo Hall. Opened in 1929 and one of the largest theatres outside the West End with a capacity of over 2,500. Designed by William George Robert Sprague and William Henry Barton with a steel frame construction clad in brick and faced in Doulton's Carrara terracotta. The theatre closed in 1962 but the entrance hall in the Adam style has been retained. The auditorium with circle and upper circle is in its original state. It is Listed Grade II.142 The Gaumont Palace Cinema opened 1932 designed in Art Deco by Charles Nicholas & J.E. Dixon-Spain. It had an open-air terrace above the entrance which served teas a Crompton organ with ten ranks. In 1944 it bombed, closed and used as a factory and only re-opened in 1955 with "Doctor At Sea.” It closed in 1961 with Sophia Loren. It was converted into a 36-lane bowling alley but Streatham Bowl closed in 2008.150-160 Caesar’s Palace. Was previously the Locarno Ballroom. Opened in 1929 by band leader, Billy Cotton. In 1969 it became 'The Cats Whiskers' ' The Studio' in 1984, 'The Ritzy' in 1990 and Caesars’ in 1995. Now lap dancing, boxing, TV shows, you name it.Telford Court was designed by Frank Harrington in 1931. Balconies for flats above shops and four pantiled roof top belvederes. Wyatt Park Mansions designed by H. J. S. Abrams in 1938. In 1944, there was a direct hit from a flying bomb but no structural collapse.

Streatham High Road
Called ‘Estreham’ in 1086 but later ‘Stretham’ - meaning 'homestead or village on a Roman road'. The Roman road is that from London to Brighton, and its course follows the older A23.
Falcon – there are springs in the foundations of the parade of shops between Drewstead Road and Broadlands Avenue. When the shops were built access space was built below the basement floors to for water when the the springs when in full spate.13-19 Caton Mansions three storey redbrick apartment block built in 1940 and named after the house, which once stood here,15 ABC Cinema. This Cinema was originally the Regal opened in 1938 and is Listed Grade II, The steel-framed construction clad in brick with a decorative cream faience tiled centrepiece on the curved facade. A display board for the films being incorporated within the design which us in green mosaic, flanked by black glazed pillars 39 small, white painted, two-storey house probably 1930's 41a - 41b Streatham Hill Primary Healthcare Centre in 1960's, office block 47 Odeon built 1930 by E. A. Stone. Originally this was the Astoria. A Crompton organ Ws installed in 1930 to a , Maclean design with synthetic stops 12 ranks, with twin consoles, but later equipped with console lifts built in brick with seven pairs of street entrance doors echoed by double height windows above. The interior of the auditorium was decorated in the Egyptian Style which still exists but covered over. Converted to three screens in 1979. 60 Horse and Groom68-70 Five Bells also once called the Hogshead. Laid out on split levels, displaying many old prints of local historical interest. 78a Taylors pubAstoria Mansions. Designed by Messrs Joseph in 1931. Named after the Cinema next door. Purpose built shops with flats above. The block is in red brick and shops fronting the High Road are called Astoria Parade with Astoria Mansions at the backCorner Fielde purpose built apartments designed by Toms and Partners for the Bell Property Trust 1937. It is on the site of Streatham Hill Boys College and previously Wooton Cottages. 41 Elgar House, five-storey office block designed in 1960 by William Clark. On the side is a red brick residential block named Rebury Court. Kwik Fit garage at street level. 5 The Mint. Was also called Baroque but originally “Genevieve" pub opened in 1967, designed by Collins Ltd, for ABC Cinemas. Named after the film it is a two storey brick building with a traditional style painted timber shop front. Gracefield Gardens . Behind Astoria Mansions, this is a large single storey industrial building 8used as a carpet showroom Jack Stamp’s beer house. ClosedLeigham Hall Mansions purpose built apartment blocks with shops at street level, 1936, designed for the Bell Property Trust Ltd. by R. Toms and Partners . There are five floors of flats accessed through stylised front doors with arched fanlights over and Art Deco, metal work with gilded gazelles. A strip of green glazed pantiled roof, runs the entire length of the facade, the main roof is of similar green glazed pantiles. Amongst other original features were constant hot water, tiled bathrooms, uniformed porters, electric lifts and separate tradesmen's entrance." 9-11 Norwich House. Medium-rise office block built 1970. A rectangular building in grey roughcast prefabricated panels designed by Scott, Brownrigg and Turner Streatham Court courtyard development designed by R. Toms and Partners for the Bell Property Trust 1936. The front doors to the six storey blocks have grand stone surrounds with original brass numbering. Above the front doors are semicircular burnished copper-decorative panelsStreatleigh Court. Designed by Harrington's as flats with shops at street level. 1936. bricks are laid to create vertical striped patterns. Above the main entrance there is a curved balcony on each floor. At one time this was Gas Board showrooms. The High . The largest of the inter-war developments here. Designed by R. Toms and Partners for the Bell Property Trust, 1937.. It has five six storey blocks connected to further blocks behind a brick balustrade – making 174 flats. The line of shops has an integral cantilevered canopy. Am original swimming pool and garages are to the rear

Saturday, 3 July 2010

Aldebert Terrace
This area was known as the 32 Acres or the Pightle and developed in the mid-19th. It is an example of Victorian terrace housing, built between 1865 and 1875. Earlier known as Williamson Street after one of the family of owners.

Albert Square
A grand scheme 1846-, by John Glenn. Built on what was market garden land in the mid-19th

Ashmole Street
Named after Elias Ashmole, 1617-92, founder of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford who lived in Lambeth. This was previously Church Street.84 The RoebuckAshmole Primary School. This was a London School Board buildingTriangle Adventure PlaygroundBondway
This was previously called Bond Street but was any case named for an 18th landowner, John Bond.Rowton House. Established by W.C.Corry Baron Rowton, Secretary to Disraeli, as cheap hostels for working men. This one was designed by Harry B. Measures and opened in 1892 by Lord Rowton as the first of his model lodging houses with 484 beds mostly in private cubicles. Renovated 1974 to provide 150 bedsits.71 Brewery. 5 floor brewery, built in 1885, for Plowman, Barrett & Co. It has changed hands several times between beer brewers and mineral water makers. Later offices & store for Link.Mineral Water factory

Carroun Road
Called after Noel Carron Dutch ambassador in 1590s. Carron House survived until 1800s.
Usborne Mews, development on the site of an old bus station

Clapham Road124 Kelly’s pub. This was previously the Dorset Arms.South Island Place. Tower block on what was once the southern boundary of Kennington Common. Built 1966-7 using a Wates system for a design by Lambeth Architects Department.

Dorset RoadTurner’s Function CentreThe Phoenix

Durham Street1-45 Westminster Business Square. In the old Marmite Factory. This was the site of the New London Brewery Co. which went into liquidation in 1925. The factory was taken over by Marmite in 1927, whose product is based on brewer’s waste. Closed 1967, used as St. Mungo hostel and now as a trading estate.St.Anne’s Catholic Primary SchoolAnchor House. Retirement housing.51 Beehive. Close to the Oval with a collection of wine racks and flower prints

Ebbisham Drive
Built on the site of the Higgs and Hill Works

Effra SiteThis is the site upriver of Vauxhall Bridge, at the top end of Nine Elms Lane and Wandsworth Road.St.George’s Wharf. Oversized riverside development built against most people’s wishes. Vast great tower also planned on siteVauxhall riverside - sewer outflow which may be the last remains of the Effra’s mouth.Fort built to defend London during the Civil War was alongside the Effra.Phoenix Gas works. This was alongside Vauxhall Bridge and built on part of the site of the Cumberland Tea Gardens and part on a site previously owned by the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company. The works was built up from 1847 with a retort house with 200 retorts and space for 100 more as well as a landing stage and associated railway. A rest room for the workforce was also provided. The works was extended in the 1860s onto newly acquired land despite petitions from local residents to have it removed. The works was taken over, with the rest of the Phoenix Company, by South Metropolitan Gas Co. in the 1870s.Nine Elms Cold Store. Public cold store of 1,500,000 cu. ft. capacity located to be served by railway siding, lighter and road. Opened 1965 closed 1979. Demolished. Owned by Associated Fisheries

Fentiman Road Methodist church. Built 1900 by G. P. & R. P. Baines For the congregation of a chapel in Miles Street. Red brick building with stone tracery.Caron's Almshouses, founded 1618 by Noel de Caron in what is now Wandsworth Road. This was for seven women over 60. By 1857 the building had become unsuitable and it was sold to Price’s Candle Co and later to the Phoenix Gas Co. The current almshouses were built on this site in 1854. There are plaques to Caron and other benefactors.Whicher and Kifford's Almshouses, 1855 by Hunt & Stephenson, with barge boarded gables. These almshouses were founded in Westminster in the 17th, and moved to Lambeth in 1855. George Whicher had left £1,500 for an almshouse for six old men and Judith Kifford left £300 for an almshouse for two gentlewomen. In 1855 the trustees bought land alongside Caron's almshouses and two houses were built there.
Wareham House - sculptural relief of boys playing football 1952

Gasholder Place
The site of this small road is now within the area of a supermarket car park.Gas Holders - a well-known backdrop to the Oval Cricket Ground. The site was taken over by the Phoenix Gas Light amd; Coke Co in 1850 from the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Co. This was a holder station only for gas made at their Vauxhall and Bankside Works. .The largest gasholder is on the site of one of the reservoirs and was originally built by Corbett Woodall in 1877 with two lifts. It was rebuilt under George Livesey rebuilt in 1890 and four lifts one of which was flying and which doubled its size Cast-iron frame with the emblem of the Phoenix Gas Company. In addition there were some smaller holders dating from the 1950s.

Harleyford Road
Laid out after Vauxhall Bridge was opened in 1816, providing a direct route to Westminster from Kennington and South Lambeth.33 listed41 Durham Arms pub43-59 symmetrical group of houses.96-106 built by Higgs and Hill in 1875 on land purchased for their adjacent works.Archbishop Tenison's schools. Bombed. Founded 1682 and became voluntary aided church school in 1999.Council estates. They can all see the cricket matches. Bombed. The railings surrounding the block of flats on the right between Vauxhall Street and Oval Way have an interesting history. After the 2nd World War they were constructed from the metal beds which had been in use in air raid shelters and also from the poles of old stretchers: a good example of recycling.Crown Baths. This was a speculative development built by Higgs and Hill in 1875 on land purchased for their adjacent works. The pools were heated, by waste steam from the building yard's beam engine. The buildings were later occupied by Whitehead & Sons for their marble worksImperial Marble Works. J. Whitehead and SonsCrown Works. Higgs and Hill, on a site now covered by Ebbisham Drive and Bannerman House. The site, on market gardens, was bought by William Higgs in 1870 and in 1873 was merged with Hill. There were workshops for carpenters, joiners, stone-masons, blacksmiths, plumbers and glaziers’, a timber store and stables for twenty horses. In wartime the company undertook contract for munitions and military work as well as prefabricated buildings and aircraft parts, which included a large female workforce assembling fabric coverings for aircraft wings. Other facilities included a piggery, and the 'Crown Orchestra' to entertain workers during their lunch break. The last horse was pensioned off in 1922 and they then ran steam and petrol lorries. The Company was however responsible for many major building contracts, and the works closed in 1967. The company moved to New Malden and was taken over in 2002.Harleyford Road Community Garden - The garden is divided into sections - a children's playground; a wildlife area with pond; wildflower meadow and hedgerow, an herb garden and an area of lawn and flowerbeds. It was created in 1986 with the help of the Harleyford Road Garden Association. It is the only accessible wildlife site of Metropolitan or Borough importance in the area42-46 St.Anne’s Catholic Settlement.St.Mark's Schools 1824, consist of a central part of three bays and little blocks added. For boys and girls. Attractive main building. It has a nature garden at the back, which can be glimpsed from Oval Way.

Kennington Oval60—63 built by Higgs and Hill in 1875 on land purchased for their adjacent worksArchbishop Tenison’s School. Founded in the 17th by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Lawn LaneEffra- A gardener ‘recently deceased’ in 1895 remembered the Effra here as ‘wide and deep enough to bear large barges’Bannerman House. Designed Powell and Moya.The Academy flats in the buildings of Lawn Lane Schools. This was Vauxhall Manor Comprehensive Girls School, designed by architect J Bailey for the London County Council.Sunny Bank Laundry. Founded 1875 and later occupied by University Tailors.

Park PlacePark Mansions

Mawbey Street7 Mawbey Arms. Listed. Family-run pub.

Meadow Road2a St Peter’s Residence, Little Sisters of the Poor -66 Hibberd Bros gas engines. This terraced house must have been the registered office of this gas engine and locomotive building company.
Horton House - Sculptural relief of Mother and Child playing. by Peter Peri 1952.

Miles StreetRailway bridge for extension to York Road. Built 1844 with a skew arch 48ft one side and 38ft the other. This is a curve of 54'span. It took 90,000 bricks and was built in 45 hours.Bruton's Lead Works. Part of the wall remained into the 1970s. It became Girdler Bruton and then the Billiter Group.

Nine Elms LaneEffra. The river had two exits to the Thames. The westerly one in this area.1 Market Towers. Oversize offices1 Club Colosseum oversize entertainment venue.Nine Elms Station. 21st May 1838. The London and Southampton Railway sited their original London terminus on the edge of the central area at Nine Elms and also provided an imposing terminus building by architect William Tite. It was near to river and road services into London but too far out and ten years later it was replaced by Waterloo. The building remained in use as a goods depot plus some celebrity traffic. It was bombed in the Second World War and demolished in the 1960s. It had an Italian front of seven bays, the centre five opened up in a giant loggia of pillars and arches.
The station and the surrounding area became part of the Nine Elms Goods Station, the main part of which was south of here and now covered by Covent Garden Market2 steamboat piers Phoenix Wharf. Francis Cement Works. Charles Francis wanted to make Parker cement when the patent expired. He was a wharfinger, limeburner, cement and marble merchant. He was sited there until 1868 when his worked had to move a few hundred yards because of the building of Vauxhall bridge. The works moved away again in the 1890s because the Metropolitan Board of Works wanted to move the bridge.Brunswick Dock. Initially a timber dock it was used by the gas works, and subsequently by the railway.

Palfrey PlaceGarage Keith & Boyle (London) motor vehicle distributors. This was also the London Terminal Coach Station. Now Usborne Mews
MOT Testing Station and yard

Rita RoadSt George’s Bridge Gardens. Housing in the Beaufoy Vinegar Works buildings. Behind the offices is preserved an early industrial group. The original buildings date from c. 1810 including one of the lodges with columns, the Beaufoy Mansion, Caron Place was the family home but a ballroom extension was bombed and burnt. At the end of the courtyard is the Vat House, three bays with a cupola and a tin roof following bombing. The bell in the cupola had an inscription. “THOMAS MEARS LONDON FOUNDER 1843”. The manufactory and offices are in buildings of two and three storeys, built in stock brick with stone dressings, and grouped about a long yard. The yard was approached through a walled garden along a short road, with two storey lodges. The south lodge was destroyed by bombing on October 12, 1940, but the north lodge had a loggia with cast-iron columns, surmounted by the arms of the Beaufoy family. The floor behind the yard is paved with mill stones.

St.Stephen's Terrace
Victorian terrace housing, built late 1860s.St.Stephen 1967-8 by N. A. Green, replaces a church on the same site.St Stephen. 19th church 1860 by J.Barnett. Demolished in 1951.The Tradescant sculpture. Outside St Stephen’s Church and the corner of Wilkinson Street. Unveiled in 1988 by naturalist David Bellamy as a memorial to the Tradescant family. 17th pioneer collectors of plants whose garden was on this site.Royal Albert pubSouth Lambeth Road
South Lambeth was first recorded as ‘Sutlamehethe’ in 1241 and lies in both Wandsworth and LambethEffra crossed the road at Cox Bridge – the name is recorded in 1340. It then discharges into the Thames.5 United Dairies Milk bottling plant, fed by a pipe from platform l Vauxhall Station. Gone51 Henry Fawcett, M.P., the blind Postmaster-General, lived here from 1875 until his death in 1884. It was pulled down for the formation of the park,72-84 Brand and Co. The site included food drying kilns which were still there in 1967. H.W.Brand had developed a chicken essence drink for George IV and then exploited it commercially. In the 1870s he sold the business to J.J.Mason and Thomas Dence. Dence, from Kent, developed a process based on oast houses. Keybridge House is on the site80 Keybridge House 1975-6 by G. W. Mills & Associates, huge telecommunications centre with shiny aluminium projections. On the site of the Brand works.126 Wheatsheaf. Corner house pub rebuilt in 1862. Public bar and a large saloon with ornate mirrors behind the bar.220-218 Mawbey Place Built before 1791274 Beulah House the oldest house in the area. Coade stone keystones over the windows.276 Stockwell Baptist Church. 1866. Classical.87 Comfort Inn. This is in an office block built for Sarson's Vinegar. It was formally called Paul Robeson House. The site extends to an area covered by housing behind Travis Perkins once the Beaufoy Vinegar Works. Now flats based in Rita Road.Travis Perkins. Timber and building supplies firm on the site of the Sarsons Vinegar works.Aerostatic Academy. This was on the corner of the South Lambeth Road and Stockwell Road, the site of the Vauxhall Turnpike in the very early 19th. It has been suggested that experimental work on balloons filled with coal gas was undertaken here. It had been opened by the balloonist, Charles Blanchard, with his prize money received for a balloon ascent from Dover in 1785.Coronation Buildings. Built c. 1905 by London & S.W. Railway. 5 floors. Demolished.Railway bridge for extension to York Road 1844St Anne. Founded as a private chapel in 1793, became a parish church in 1869. Chancel, vestry, and tower added in 1874 by R. Parkinson.Stockwell Partnership OfficeTate Library 1888. Lambeth had the patronage of Sir Henry Tate, who lived at Streatham. Libraries were designed by his protégé S. R.J. Smith. It had a curved porch with caryatids which were removed probably in the 1950s.Tradescant's home. John Tradescant the Elder and John Tradescant the Younger were
travellers, naturalists and gardeners of repute, who lived in South Lambeth Road in the
17th . Their house, known as the Ark adjoined Turret House, the home of Elias Ashmole. The two houses were demolished in the 1880s. The elder John Tradescant was Charles I's gardener in 1638 and both he and his son were distinguished botanical travellers..The Tradescants displayed the results in their
house at Lambeth, Their Ark of Novelties constituted the first
public collection in Britain. It was divided into
two major sections, natural and artificial. The Ark was eventually inherited by
deed of gift by Elias Ashmole
who added his own accumulations of rarities, books and coins. In 1677 Ashmole
donated the augmented collectionto
his old university, Oxford and the
result was the Old Ashmolean Museum. .

Tradescant RoadArt Metal Work Company .Mr. J Starkie Gardner (1844-1930) was 'Metalworker to King Edward VII', and for 50 years he was the foremost authority on the history of decorative ironwork. The business began in 1752 and was a partnership between two families Starkie and Gardner. Following a marriage. Their first factory was Lambeth from 1885 to 1922 but then moced to Wandsworth, closing in 1994. Starkie Gardner's 'Art Metal Work' From 1885 to 1905 the firm was at 29 Albert Embankment. From 1907 to 1909 at 69 Wilcox Road, South Lambeth. From 1914 to 1922 at Tradescant Road.

Vauxhall Cross
One of London's busiest junctions with seven main roads. Plus connections to the underground and railway stations.New bus station. Designed by Arup Associates with two cantilevered arms containing 167 solar panels providing a third of the bus station's electricity.

Vauxhall Park
On the site of Carroun, Carron or Caron House.This is different to Caron House on the Beaufoy site. It was built by Sir Noel de Caen and in the 1630s given to Clarendon. Fleet prisoners taken there in the Great Fire. It was demolished 1687.occupied by Sir Charles Blicke and later sold to William Evans in 1838. In 1886 it was proposed that that it could be developed for housing but through Octavia Hill eight and a half acres were bought by the Lambeth Vestry in 1889 for a park. Mark Beaufoy, at that time M.P. for Kennington, also made a contribution. The design of the park was undertaken by the Kyrle Society and their landscape gardener, Fanny R. Wilkinson. Harrison Townsend designed the entrance gates and railings. Octavia Hill was present at the opening ceremony in 1890, performed by the Prince of Wales. On the site of Henry Fawcett's house is a memorial to him modelled by George Tinworth and made at Doulton's pottery. This was destroyed in 1955. Goldfish basin by Basil Champneys 1930 in memory of Lord Cheylesmore.

Wandsworth Road
Runs along the NW edge of the borough of Lambeth towards Clapham Junction,Effra. The river is believed to have had two entries into the Thames one just south of Vauxhall Bridge. In 1875 there were floods
Railway bridge for extension to York Road 184430 Brunswick House. Three storeys with a semicircular porch with rams'-skull frieze of Coade stone. It was built in 1758 and later occupied by the Duke of Brunswick. It was on land owned by the Dawson family which included a timber dock. In 1791 the house, which was then called Belmont, was divided into two. Half was sold to the Western Gas Company in 1845 and purchased by the London and South Western Railway Company in 1854. In 1811 the other half was purchased by Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick, whose sister Caroline married the Prince Regent. He had fled to England after the battle of Wagram. His part of Belmont House was also purchased by the Gas Company and sold to the Railway Company in 1855. The two parts became Brunswick House and have been used ever since as an institute and club for railway workers.101 -105 Early 19 terrace. Stock brick with parapet front.109 Early 19 terraced house. Stock brickSainsbury’s. Features in film 'My Beautiful Launderette’Vauxhall Iron Works. Alexander Wilson had a factory here in 1857 here. He made marine engines and other engineering items. The company later developed a small 1 cylinder marine petrol engine to power a small river launch. This engine was later used as the basis for their "horseless carriage,” sold in 1903. The car had tiller steering, like a small yacht. The main factory was on what is now the Sainsbury's petrol station on Wandsworth Road
But the need for more space caused the company to move to Luton in 1905 to become Vauxhall Motors.124-130 South Bank Club. Health club which was the Granada Cinema 1936-1967. Previously it had been the site of the Clock Tower Cinema (1921-1936). Taken over by Bernstein Theatres in the early 1930's and demolished in 1936. The Granada Theatre was on an enlarged site designed by architects E.D. Lyons, L. Israel and C.H. Elsom, their only cinema which had a brick tower over the entrance and a vertical fin sign. The entire facade was brick with a plain foyer but the side of the theatre had motifs depicting musical instruments, by Frank Barnes. The theatre was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3Manual/8Rank organ now with a collector in Chorley Wood. There was also a fully equipped stage and dressing rooms, but initially these were rarely used. It was closed in 1940 following bombing and again in 1941. It eventually re-opened in 1949. In the early 1960's bingo was introduced and the last film shown in 1965 was "Carry On Nurse”. It then became a full time Bingo Club until 1977 when it became a skate-board centre for a while and in 1986, reopened as Southbank Club.
Renaissance rooms. Night club

Wheatsheaf LaneGothic Hall Congregational Mission for railway workers. Rounded ends, and quirky detail. This was built in 1896 It a now a community centre with a hall open to hire. It is used by a Portuguese language church and the Unity Baptist Church

Wilcox Road
11 Magic T Shirts, and several other buildings used as locations in 'My Beautiful Launderette’.
Nolan’s pub69 Art Metal
Work Company J Starkie Gardner.Mr. J Starkie Gardner (1844-1930)
was 'Metalworker to King Edward VII', and for 50 years he was the foremost
authority on the history of decorative ironwork. The business began in 1752 and
was a partnership between two families Starkie and Gardner. Following a
marriage. Their first factory was Lambeth from 1885 to 1922 but then moced to Wandsworth,
closing in 1994. Starkie Gardner's 'Art Metal Work' From 1885 to 1905 the firm was
at 29 Albert Embankment. From 1907 to 1909 at 69 Wilcox Road, South Lambeth. From
1914 to 1922 at Tradescant Road.

Wilkinson Street
Victorian terrace housing, built between 1865 and 1875.

Wyvil Road
Wyvil Road School. Early example of a London School Board School by Robson. 1876. with only the usual terracotta panels as modest ornament